ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


FOR USE WITH 

COLLEGE HANDBOOK 
OF COMPOSITION 

/ BY 

EDWIN C? WOOLLEY, Pii.D. 

author of woolley’s handbook of composition 

AND 


FRANKLIN W." SCOTT, Ph.D. 

FORMERLY HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 

ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO DALLAS 

LONDON 


PE 1408 
. 14682 
Copy 1 







Copyright, 1930, by 
Isabelle Woolley Bartlett 
and Franklin W. Scott 


OCT IS (930 

©CIA 28962 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA 



THE WORD 

Exercise 1 

Look up each of the following words both in an un¬ 
abridged dictionary and in an abridged one, and write a 
report showing how much more discriminatingly and 
clearly the larger volume explains the use of each word 
than the smaller one does: idealism, Bible, liberal, court, 
Christian, color, moral, law, evolution, catholic. State the 
exact title and the publisher of each of the dictionaries 
consulted. 

Exercise 2 

Find out from an unabridged dictionary what part of 
speech each of the following italicized words is. Is each 
correctly used for ordinary formal discourse? 

1. She plays tennis first-rate. 2. We stopped at a near¬ 
by house to inquire. 3. She is doing up-lift work in the 
slums. 4. He hopes to get a raise. 5. I am going, pro¬ 
viding the trip is not expensive. 6. Can you give me a 
recommend? 7. I am studying voice. 8. Most everyone 

had heard the news. 9. I cannot give that much money 
to the stadium fund. 10. We are going to vacation in the 
West. 11. He is making a go of it. 12. He took a few 
deep inhales from the cigar. 

Exercise 3 

Find out from a dictionary which one of the following 
forms is correct: 

1. I dove, or I dived. 2. No trump was bid, or no trump 
was bidden. 3. It is proved, or it is proven. 4. I wakened, 
or I woke, or I waked. 5. I swang, or I swung. 6. He was 
drownded, or he was drowned. 7. The ship sank, or the ship 
sunk. 8. The dress shrank, or the dress shrunk. 9. She 
wrang the clothes, or she wrung the clothes. 10. I rang, or 
I rung. 


Unabridged 
dictionaries 
superior to 
abridged 


Part of 
speech 


Inflectional 

forms 


2 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Verb 
transitive 
or intransi¬ 
tive? 


Etymology 


Good 

usage 


Good 

usage 


Exercise 4 

Look up the following verbs in a dictionary. State 
whether each verb is transitive or intransitive, and illus¬ 
trate the correct use of each verb: 'propose, purpose, sit, 
set, frighten, scare, learn, teach, isolate, derogate, desiccate, 
elicit, elide, simulate, ricochet, limn, synthesize, instigate, 
apprehend, envisage, castigate, interdict, genuflect, deploy, 
collude. 

Exercise 5 

How may the etymologies given by the dictionary help 
one in remembering the meaning of the following words? 
(Note that when a series of words have the same ety¬ 
mology, the etymology may be given only once with the 
first word of the series.) Incarnation, egregious, cruciform, 
umbrageous, entrepreneur, risibility, legerdemain, denoue¬ 
ment, metempsychosis, agnostic, contiguous, incunabula. 

Exercise 6 

Determine from an unabridged dictionary the suit¬ 
ability or unsuitability of the following words in ordinary 
formal discourse: swallow-tail (evening coat), cinch, hired 
girl, babe, bogus, varsity, swain, whilst, sport (a person), 
walk-out (noun), nifty, highbrow, josh, come across, get by 
with, put one over on, get it across, renig, pants (clothing), 
oft-times, brainy, clean up (to make money), depot (rail¬ 
way station), dope (information), electrocute, fix you up, 
galore, foot the bill, gent, lief, a whole lot, minus (without), 
opine, orate, overly, photo, right away, hold-up, homey, faze, 
domicile, hodgepodge, up-to-date, wire (verb), nonce, blues. 

Exercise 7 

Consult an unabridged dictionary and decide upon the 
good usage for ordinary formal discourse of the italicized 
words or phrases in the following sentences: 

1. Put the book right there. 2. John is a likely lad. 
3. I cannot say as I am glad to go. 4. All are glad of the 
return to normalcy. 5. Fit be back in an hour. 6. We 
had pretty cold weather. 7. This is all the farther I can go. 
8. When I was a boy on the farm, I devoted most of my 
efforts to taking care of the cows and pigs. 9. You favor 


THE WORD 


3 


your father in looks. 10. Immediately you hear him call, 
you must run to him. 11. There were lots of people at the 
meeting. 12. She certainly got a good fit on your coat. 
13. It is handy to have the grocery store near you. 14. She 
is often so slow that I cannot wait on her. 15. I am mighty 
glad that you came. 16. You had better doctor it up before 
you hand it in. 17. You mayhap will be ready to leave 
then. 18. She looked very distingue. 19. My mother 
was pernickety about the books we read. 20. We are in a 
tremendous hurry. 21. I am going anyhow , even if he says 
I cannot. 22. I appreciate your feeling as you do about 
your own brother. 23. It will cost us around fifty dollars. 
24. She could not help me any. 25. Any one of our gowns 
will give you chic. 26. It makes no more difference to me 
than it does to you. 27. The fog was so heavy that we 
could not hardly see the shore. 28. She has been ill from 
typhoid fever. 29. We had a pleasant evening reminiscing 
about the little old burg in days long gone by. 30. We saw a 
good show last night. 31. They are as good as engaged. 
32. That was a curious coincidence. 33. She failed her 
examination. 34. I never can seem to do it well. 35. The 
President had expressly committed the United States to 
the active support and participation in a league or associ¬ 
ation of nations. 36. Modern children are not taught to 
mind. 37. Even though it rained all of the time, we had 
quite a pleasant visit. 38. He was too impractical to suc¬ 
ceed in business. 39. You should patronize your neighbor¬ 
hood grocer. 40. Make it snappy. 41. He has handled 
the characters in his story in a pastmasterly fashion. 


Exercise 8 

In consulting a dictionary about the use of a word, try 
not merely to get a general idea of the meaning of the 
word, but to discover within what limits of meaning the 
word is confined. To this end read the definition as a whole; 
do not pick out a single synonym and suppose that this 
and the word defined are interchangeable. Cut is defined 
thus: “To separate the parts of with, or as with, a sharp 
instrument; to make an incision in; to gash; to sever; 
to divide.” To pick out the last synonym (“to divide”) 
and reason that since cut means divide , one may say “I 


Good 

usage 


Definition 
to be read as 
a whole 


4 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Idiomatic 

construc¬ 

tion 


Distinctions 
in meaning 


Abbrevia¬ 

tions 


will cut the money among them” would be absurd. What 
cut means is ascertained not from one synonym taken 
separately but from the definition read as a whole. 

Look up the following words in an unabridged diction¬ 
ary; read each definition, and read the examples; write 
sentences illustrating the correct use of each word: unc¬ 
tion, sabotage, shibboleth, antiphony, stentorian, mordant , 
travesty, seismograph, neologism, adjudicate, impugn, con¬ 
tumacy, retroactive, anachronism, microcosm, macrocosm, 
polyandry, immanent, imminent, eminent, harbinger, pane¬ 
gyric, mundane, nepotism, innocuous, voodoo, anomalous, 
crass, cynosure, sententious, sophistication, ubiquity, chicane, 
denizen, duress, colloquial, hedonist, hegemony, misogyny, 
misogamy, misanthropy, philanthropy, meticulous, oppro¬ 
brious, ostentatious, ineluctable, peccadillo, precocious , sy¬ 
cophant, syllogism, sinecure. 

Exercise 9 

Find out, either from explicit statements in the defini¬ 
tions or from examples, what idiomatic construction — 
especially what preposition — is required with each word; 
and write sentences illustrating the correct use of each 
word: compare, angry, infer, talk (verb), agree, surrounded, 
suspected, speak, vary, variance, contrast, deserving, affinity, 
consist, amuse, accused, accountable, admission, anxious, 
discouraged, eager, exult, concerned, impatient, look, neces¬ 
sary, necessity, opposed, opportunity, inquire. 

Exercise 10 

Consult the dictionary for the distinctions in meaning 
between the members of each of the following pairs of 
words: neglect and negligence; ingenuous and ingenious; 
fewer and less; admit and confess; instinct and intuition; 
contagious and infectious; hygienic and sanitary; wit and 
humor; criticize and censure; farther and further; admit 
and confess. 

Exercise 11 

Consult the table of abbreviations in the front part of a 
dictionary so that you may understand information that 
is often given in abbreviated form. For example, what do 


THE WORD 


5 


the following abbreviations mean: OF ., Oxf. E. D ., colloq., 
at. wt.y AS., ff., p. a., pr., var., d., e.g.f 


Exercise 12 

Determine from a dictionary whether each of the following 
compound words should be written with a hyphen, or as 
one word without a hyphen, or as two or more separate 
words. 


sidewalk 

already 

tonight 

byproduct 

tomorrow 

proGerman 

selfevident 

expresident 

twentyfive 

courthouse 

onehundred and fiftythree 

wellbred 

threefourths 

classmate 

tendollar bill 

socalled 

thirtyfifth 

selfsatisfied 

altogether 

clearcut 


Exercise 13 

Substitute precise words for the italicized words in the 
following sentences: 

1. I have three aughts in my answer to the problem. 
2. Beside his ability as a mathematician, he has many 
other assets. 3. The decadent Roman civilization was a 
feminine civilization. 4. Much literature has been pub¬ 
lished about the use of limestone on farm lands. 5. Her 
charming innocence is childish. 6. We have much to 
learn from heathen cultures such as the Greek and Roman. 
7. Careful management is necessary to keep farm earnings 
continuously above the average. 8. Transporting passen¬ 
gers and mail by airplanes has proved to be not only possi¬ 
ble but practical. 9. I am quite jealous of your opportunity 
to study in Europe. 10. After supper you can have that 
snug place by the fire. 11. If you recommend me for this 
position, I shall appreciate the fact. 12. She was so de¬ 
cisive in her manner that people have always given in to 
her. 13. Building a concrete foundation in that racing 
current was a hard proposition. 14. The wreck was due 
to an error of the switchman. 15. It would be almost an 
impossibility to write a comprehensible paper on the eco- 


Use of 
hyphen 


Precision 


6 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Precision 


Effective¬ 

ness 


nomics of man when volume after volume has been written 
without exhausting the subject. 16. If we give your class 
all of these privileges, we shall no doubt be establishing pre¬ 
cedence which may be unwise. (Notice the pronunciation). 

Exercise 14 

Find the precise meaning of each word in the following 
groups, and write sentences to illustrate that meaning. 

1. Mental, intelligent, intellectual. 

2. Abandon, desert, forsake. 

3. Hate, detest, abhor, abominate, loathe, despise. 

4. Great, large, big. 

5. Give, bestow, grant, confer, present. 

6. Silent,reserved, uncommunicative, reticent, taciturn. 

7. Last, latest, final, ultimate, extreme. 

8. Stay, stop, tarry, linger, remain, sojourn, abide, 

live, dwell. 

9. Work, labor, toil, drudgery. 

10. Memory, remembrance, recollection, reminiscence. 

Exercise 15 

Improve, if necessary, the diction in these sentences. 
State the specific rule that applies to the changes made. 

1. A propos and en passant, it might be worthy of note 
that Jake Schmidt, kicker and passer on the football team, 
is learning the lay of the land in the Chicago office of the 
World Life Insurance Company. 2. I greatly admire the 
slow, soft drawl of the Southern people, for it gives an im¬ 
pression of culture and refinement that the rapid-fire 
speaking of the Northerners does not portray. 3. The 
benefits from Sunday sports would be of two natures; 
namely, the mental and the physical. 4. A good swimmer 
finds enjoyment in cutting through the water with long 
firm strokes that cause the water to have the appearance 
of boiling as he ends each stroke. 5. His ridicule of human 
nature is nevertheless peppered with pity. 6. For the 
spectators on the beach, the swimming races, motor-boat 
races, and dashes in the sand prevent boredom from enter¬ 
ing at any time. 7. I think that Mother Nature is at her 
best in the early spring. 8. Life as a beach guard is not 
all a bed of roses, but there are thorns in every path we 


THE WORD 


7 


choose to follow in life. 9. Preservation of his own life is Effective- 
a man’s only thought, and he will gladly risk another’s ness 
life in order to gain his own purpose. 10. The edges of the 
sky raveled off into rain. 

11. Nothing is so despicable as a bowing, smirking 
person trying to act a gentleman while he has a hypocrite’s 
heart behind his smiling mask. 12. My chief enjoyment 
and pleasure in life has been, and still is, the pursuit of my 
studies in music. 13. Then I found the dark side of the 
picture called Life. Life was ofttimes not all sunny and 
bright, but there were rough edges which sorely tried the 
youth that I was. 14. Thus what had been an interesting 
ball game suddenly was turned haywire and some nice, 
timely hitting by Williams and Lehman was turned to no 
account. 15. After surviving the rush for tickets, one is 
herded into a stuffy car. After all available seats have 
been filled, the passengers have to sit on their baggage in 
the aisles. 16. The deflated holdings of inexperienced in¬ 
vestors resulting from the recent stock market crash have 
greatly revived the belated hopes of questionable pro¬ 
moters who sense a growing desire on the part of the gulli¬ 
ble public to recoup their heavy losses by making a lucky 
strike in a speculative venture. 17. The oculist suggested 
that if these new glasses did not help my eyes that I had 
better go to a specialist. 18. Our meat is prepared and 
packed by machinery and thus is untouched by the human 
hand. 19. When the last match has been struck, the proud 
possessor of the cigarette lighter with a grand flourish brings 
the treasured piece of mechanism from his vest pocket, and* 
with a nonchalant flip of the lever, he proceeds to light his 
cigarette, but to his wonder and amazement, there is no 
ignition. 20. The keen intellect of the Greeks could not 
have reached such heights of development had not the 
great masters lived at a time when the stage was set for 
tremendous strides in the realms of thought. 

21. The whole appearance of this Jersey cow is very 
striking. She has a soft skin. As you stroke her, it rolls 
smoothly between the fingers. Her hair is a rich cream 
color, soft and glossy. It gives her the appearance of being 
a well-cared-for animal. 22. Her eyes were shaded by 
long black lashes, curving backward in a very peculiar 
way, and these matched in hue her eyebrows, and the 


8 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Effective¬ 

ness 


Unity- 


tresses that were tossed about her tender throat and were 
quivering in the sunlight. 23. She shielded her face with 
a moody hand. 24. The mountains with their forever¬ 
changing contours, seem to move in a slow dance calculated 
to allure him. There are young and sprightly peaks of 
fantastic shapes like dancing fauns; there are smoothly 
rounded and maternal ranges; there are hoary oldsters 
whose crowns are forever white with snow. 25. The sand 
deserts of New Mexico and Arizona are very large. They 
give a conception of slow death and destruction; then close 
by, the Grand Canyon splits the earth open as if it would 
swallow the whole universe. 26. Like the big apples in a 
barrel hauled in a wagon over rough country, Joseph Ken¬ 
nedy has come to the top. The trip along the highway 
of life here has thrown him up and now out to greater 
fields of endeavor. 


THE SENTENCE 

Exercise 1 

Revise such of the following sentences as you find un¬ 
unified, stating in each case the rule that applies. State 
also your reason for considering any sentence unified. 

1. Our greatest adventure was our participation in the 
World War, which we brought to a successful conclusion 
and prevented the Germans from subjugating Great 
Britain and France and ultimately our own country, at a 
cost of billions of dollars and great suffering and hardship 
to our soldiers, to whom the country will always be grate¬ 
ful, and is now providing generously for the disabled, and 
will provide for all when time and conditions permit. 

2. Among the average herd of Jersey cattle, she will 
appear to be small. She weighs about seven hundred and 
fifty pounds and is seven years old. 

3. There were several other boys whom I knew much 
better than Carl, and no lasting friendship has resulted 
from them. 

4. In the center of the field, a team was practicing. One 
player was knocking flies and grounders. His teammates 


THE SENTENCE 


9 


were fielding them. Their uniforms were gray and their Unity 
socks banded in gold. 

5. Near the benches, which were placed on either side 
of the field, were rows of bats and managers were keeping 
them in order. 

6. The typical cowboy is not (although there are but 
few left) extinct as yet, but contrary to public opinion they 
are not ignorant, but good-natured and well-educated 
boys. 

7. The fine manners of a Southerner are known the world 
over because he will not tolerate discourtesy to any lady. 

8. There is the man who is a racing fanatic who will bet 
his own clothing on a horse race. 

9. The number of people attending universities is gradu¬ 
ally increasing, people are beginning to put into practice 
their beliefs that more money can be earned with the aid 
of an education. 

10. “Next,” called the dean’s assistant in a foreboding 
tone. My turn was drawing near. I tied another knot in 
my handkerchief. I wriggled restlessly to the edge of the 
bench that guarded the door to a little office marked 
“ Dean of Women ” in straight black letters. I was waiting 
for a conference that I had not requested. There was no 
denying it, I was nervous. 

11. Gray persistent rain beat down unceasingly from the 
cheerless leaden sky overhead. A dogged beating, beating 
rain, which had drenched all outdoors. 

12. The island is far from the mainland so it is seldom 
visited by tourists. 

13. I have made many friends this first year in college, 
but none of them has been such a good friend as John, but 
of course I have known him for ten years. 

14. Despite the fact that this cow has soft, gentle eyes, 
she has a bad disposition. When she is slightly disturbed, 
she becomes very wild. When she is in this mood, she 
seems to be more like a tiger than a dairy cow. 

15. He fought the sea monsters as though they were 
mice. Although this was easy to do, for he had armor on 
and a sword in his hand. 

16. Most of my classmates in high school had no ambi¬ 
tion to get a better education, so they wondered why I 
wanted to go to college. 


10 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Unity 


17. No two people think alike or reason in quite the 
same way; from childhood we all form] likes and dislikes; 
we establish opinions on religion, on politics, on society, 
on peace and war, and on all types of human relationships. 

18. In such a world of affairs as we live in, almost every¬ 
one has need for an extensive knowledge of business prin¬ 
ciples, and should I decide, upon finishing college, if I ever 
do so, not to follow the line of business, I should not con¬ 
sider my energies at all wasted, for I should be better 
fitted to carry on my own private affairs and dealings with 
my fellow beings and to conduct more intelligently any 
work either private or public which I might undertake. 

19. The town had hoped he would leave his five hundred 
thousand dollars for the building of a new gymnasium, for 
our high school is very old and was erected before athletic 
games were considered as essential as they are now. 

20. The townspeople are discouraged about raising the 
money, for a large percentage of the citizens are farmers 
who cannot donate to the fund, for they are heavily bur¬ 
dened with debts. 

21. One evening I came home very much elated because 
I had had a most enjoyable evening because I was certain 
that I had made a good impression on my hostesses. 

22. As the argument continued, more girls drifted into 
our room. Each one adding her thoughts on the subject, 
all of them trying to help. 

23. Better not smoke now, he thought. There had al¬ 
ways been trouble about his smoking. She had hated the 
smell. Hated to have ashes scattered around. Now that 
he was home again, he had better be civilized. No use 
trying to sneak, for she’d be sure to smell the smoke. 

24. I think that the question of allowing Sunday sports 
is of special interest in the spring, because it is so easy on 
wintry Sundays to sit all day by the fireplace with the 
latest scandal sheet and a box of candy, lazily patting 
yourself on the back for not having to go outdoors to play 
under stormy skies. 

25. In that family the husband rules, and the wife stays 
at home and does the housework and takes care of the 
children. Which is as it should be. 

26. This new ruling will force many fraternity men to 
seek more expensive lodgings when they had planned on 


THE SENTENCE 


11 


living as cheaply as possible when forced to attend the Unity 
summer session because of a system of scale grading that 
flunked them in perhaps only one course. 

27. If then the power of speech is a gift as great as any 
that can be named — if the origin of language is by many 
philosophers even considered to be nothing short of divine 
— if by means of words the secrets of the heart are brought 
to light, pain of soul is relieved, hidden grief is carried off, 
sympathy conveyed, counsel imparted, experience re¬ 
corded, and wisdom perpetuated — if by great authors the 
many are drawn up into unity, national character is fixed, 
a people speaks, the past and the future, the East and the 
West are brought into communication with each other — 
if such men are, in a word, the spokesmen and prophets of 
the human family — it will not answer to make light of 
literature or to neglect its study; rather we may be sure 
that, in proportion as we master it in whatever language, 
and imbibe its spirit, we shall ourselves become in our own 
measure the ministers of like benefits to others, be they 
many or few, be they in the obscurer or the more distin¬ 
guished walks of life — who are united to us by social ties, 
and are within the sphere of our personal influence. 

— John Henry Newman. 

28. The fact that we are located in the center of the 
United States, or nearly so, would make very little differ¬ 
ence as to which direction we started in; however, by going 
west from here, one could visit the Oriental people before 
going to Europe; so for the sake of definiteness let us say 
that the trip will be taken in the westward direction, but 
before taking such an adventure, one should have well- 
made plans; therefore, let us consider the preparations 
that are to be made and the itinerary of the trip. 

Exercise 2 

Rewrite the following sentences to make them coherent. Coherence 
State in each case the rule that applies. 

1. When a school is composed of the best students only, 
everyone would require the same training, making it an 
easier task to educate them. 2. An earthen pot was found 
by the head of everybody buried in graveyard, and they 
varied in size according to the size of the person. 3. While 


12 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Coherence excavating among the mounds in this burial ground, many 
articles were found. 4. The country around the mounds 
is rather hilly and wild, which makes it a natural place for 
Indians to live. 5. The water is warm this beautiful morn¬ 
ing, and followed by a cool shower imparts a rosy glow and 
a feeling of unconquerable strength. 6. Soon after putting 
the coal into the stove, the flames began shooting out of 
all the cracks in the old stove. 7. Southerners are a very 
healthy people which is due to the outdoor life that they 
lead. 8. I daring to aspire to be a botanist, and with one 
line of my ancestors coming from Berlin and the other from 
Dublin, I am studying French. 9. If these ladies really 
did good in the right way, instead of meeting to gossip 
about this unfortunate family, they would ask their hus¬ 
bands to find the man a job, and, instead of visiting the 
wife for an opportunity of looking over her house in a 
kindly inconspicuous way, they would help her organize 
her household so that she could find some time to rest. 
10. I know a student who was on probation every semester 
that he was in school. He just managed to get by, but he 
spends much effort and energy doing it. He always takes 
his limit of cuts the first two weeks, and then if he over¬ 
sleeps or wants to go out of town for a week-end, he will 
spend hours trying to convince the doctors that he was ill. 

11. Harley is sitting beside me writing a letter to his 
family whose purpose is also to make the same request 
that I am making of you. 12. We only want to stay away 
three months. 13. Everything that he does is done with 
an eye on convention and etiquette — which is a good 
thing when not carried to extremes. 14. When the fact 
that instructors and apparatus must be provided for each 
course, and that therefore the greater the number of 
courses the greater the expense to the community is, is 
considered, it becomes obvious that the curriculum of the 
junior college will be small. 15. Nothing was done to 
prevent the factory owners from hiring labor at extremely 
low rates, which they proceeded to do. 16. He was very 
fond of reading, his mind was keen, and he had formed the 
habit of learning apt phrases. 17. A golf course full of 
hazards has nothing on cutting a lawn full of lawn orna¬ 
ments. 18. Looking about a mile westward, the first big 
object which we see is the international railway bridge. 


THE SENTENCE 


13 


19. I believe that the reason why Socrates was condemned Coherence 
to death was because during his trial he did not appeal to 
the people to be forgiven. 20. There is no doubt that every¬ 
one is busy earning money, and not much time is spent in 
the study of the fine arts. 

21. Here everyone registers, pays their fees, and finds 
out where they are to stay. 22. Because of his old age, 
that is why Socrates preferred death to exile. 23. I think 
that we should build there because most of the sororities 
have or are going to build there. 24. I was forced to go 
outside the first boat to get around, and in doing so, the 
boat directly behind me cut me off. 25. He believed that 
a student should be taught his hardest subjects first and 
mastering one subject at a time before beginning another. 

26. As an illustration that aerodromes can be made to be 
profitable is told by A. H. Abel in the March issue of the 
Airway Age. 27. He was determined to again try to find 
out where the knock came from. 28. He went to Wall 
Street to borrow money, but they wanted to charge him 
such a high rate of interest that he told them to keep it. 

29. Concerning what clothes to bring, that was a problem 
for me, too. 30. They are wearing very wide-brimmed 
hats with summer dresses this year. 

31. The crops from the fields on which limestone was 
used in large quantities over a period of ten years have 
varied. From these experiments, it seems that its use has 
been very beneficial. 32. The house was not ready for us 
when we got there, due to her carelessness in not mailing 
the letter. S3. My home town will always be dearer to me 
than any town, no matter how beautiful. 34. I really 
think it is advisable to bring one or two semi-formal 
dresses because you never can tell they might wear them 
this September. 35. In addition to aiding the tourist, the 
commercial traffic leading from the truck gardens to the 
cities would be speeded up by the new bridge. 36. The 
purpose of this paper is not so much to discuss the accusa¬ 
tions brought against Socrates in that renowned Athenian 
court, and decide upon his true guilt or innocence, but 
rather probing and criticizing the conduct of Socrates, both 
before and during his imprisonment. 37. An “A ’ grade 
crate of berries is one which is properly packed, and the 
tops of each box attractively arranged, and all the berries 


14 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Coherence 


Emphasis 


in every one of the twenty-four boxes are ripe enough to be 
sold. 38. The berries are placed in the ordinary quart- 
boxes as picked, and are then put into, carriers, which are 
wooden frames provided with a handle and they are 
usually made to hold from four to six quart boxes. 39. A 
characteristic of my ideal friend is that he have a strong, 
indomitable will, not in the sense of stubbornness or 
tyranny, for one who is sympathetic and honest cannot be 
that way, but pertaining to his morals and worthy ideas 
from which he will not be shaken. 40. The complete 
record of pressure, temperature, and humidity will prove 
invaluable to science as well as to other explorers. 

41. They hope to successfully repeat this method of treat¬ 
ment. 42. When a man is rescued after going down and his 
limp body pumped back into life, there is a momentary dread 
of water by the guard which must be dominated over by 
going back into the water immediately after the rescue. 
43. The student may become lazy and depend upon his tutor 
to do all his reasoning on the grounds that if he does not, he 
will hire another. 44. Music will be an added attraction 
hoping to lure folk to the fair grounds musically inclined. 
45. I am still looking for a better book, which, if I find it, I 
will send it to you. 

Exercise 3 

Rewrite the following sentences to make them more em¬ 
phatic. State in each case the rule that applies. 

1. The enjoyment that I have in swimming is highly 
spiced with thrills, for there is usually some sort of excite¬ 
ment to be had. 2. He could never resist the temptation 
to be clever, no matter whose expense his cleverness might 
be at. 3. Seeing my father draped in a long black judge’s 
robe and perched up behind the bench like a lollipop in a 
display case furnished me with so much amusement that 
I usually did not mind having to wait a long time for him 
before his case was brought to a close so that he might take 
me out to lunch. 4. It was a gloomy day, the gentle rain 
and the dark clouds overhead casting an appearance of 
depression and dejection upon all terrestrial objects. 
5. My ideal of a gentleman is a man of culture, refinement, 
fine feelings, and good manners. 6. They had saved for 
years when suddenly they lost everything in the bank 


THE SENTENCE 


15 


failure. 7. In October, 1793, Marie Antoinette was exe¬ 
cuted in Paris, after a trial in which false and atrocious 
charges were urged against her in addition to the treason¬ 
able acts of which she had been guilty. 8. I could carry 
only my blue china pig bank, my flowered parasol, and a 
ruffled net handkerchief, I found. 9. When the temple 
was finished, a debasing, almost wild ceremony was held, 
we are told. 10. You think that college has changed since 
you attended an institution of higher learning. 

11. He was hated by those opposed to his religious be¬ 
liefs, and he was almost always misunderstood. 12. The 
geographical topography of the land upon which my home 
town is built and the region immediately surrounding it is 
very level. 13. He had a heart of gold, and generosity 
seemed to be always first with him. 14. Giant workmen, 
stripped to the waist, were exerting their powerful strength 
in handling the three-ton buckets of white-hot metal. 
15. A man can be engaged in almost any occupation and 
be a gentleman: he can be a foot-ball player and a real 
fellow and still be such a man. 16. There have been many 
recent criticisms directed toward the present generation in 
regard to the light in which they hold the idea of good 
manners. 17. It was only in my senior year that I con¬ 
sidered such a thing as a profession. Therefore, when my 
high school days were over, I was still in a state of inde¬ 
cision as to the course in which I should enroll. 18. His 
fat, pudgy fingers barely stretched five white keys from 
“ c ” to “g,” and as he thumbed, his head came down in 
accent, a suggestion of a tongue struggled in the corner of 
his mouth, and he kept his feet swinging free under the 
piano bench, moving back and forth in time with the music 
and his bobbing head. 19. When you have true wisdom, 
you can see at once the cloud and the sun, the shadow and 
the light; you can compare the height of the church spire 
with that of the factory smoke-stack; the whole course of 
the stream will be clear to you. 20. There is as much good 
and bad in the business man as in the average human being 
the world over. Notwithstanding, the business man is the 

most outstanding type in the United States today. 21. He 

had eyes that saw farther than the waves, he saw more in 
the city than cars and teams, and he had the poet’s genius 
to tell the world what he saw. 


Emphasis 


16 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


THE PARAGRAPH 

Exercise 1 

Paragraph Apply the principles of paragraph division to the follow- 
division ing passages. Give the reasons for your paragraph division. 

1. “Peggotty,” says I suddenly, “were you ever mar¬ 
ried?” “Lord, Master Davy/’ replied Peggotty. “What’s 
put marriage in your head?” She answered with such a 
start that it quite awoke me. And then she stopped in her 
work, and looked at me, with her needle drawn out to its 
thread’s length. “But were you ever married, Peggotty?” 
says I. “You are a very handsome woman, an’t you?” 
I thought her in a different style from my mother, cer¬ 
tainly; but of another school of beauty, I considered her a 
perfect example. There was a red velvet footstool in the 
best parlour, on which my mother had painted a nosegay. 
The groundwork of that stool and Peggotty’s complexion 
appeared to me to be one and the same thing. The stool 
was smooth, and Peggotty was rough, but that made no 
difference. “Me handsome, Davy!” said Peggotty. 
“Lawk, no, my dear! But what put marriage in your 
head?” “I don’t know! You mustn’t marry more than 
one person at a time, may you, Peggotty?” “Certainly 
not,” says Peggotty, with the promptest decision. 

— Dickens. 

2. “Dear Sister, I haven’t had much time to write. But 
the news is that Dad got a contract out at Alder Point. 
Jim Usher and I went out to Bridgeville with Dad. When 
Dad was surveying, we target-practiced. How are you 
getting along? Please send me some foreign stamps. The 
place is as dead as a door-nail; so I cannot tell you very 
much. Love, Frank Green. P.S. Don’t forget the 
stamps.” There it was again — stamps! They were his 
latest interest when I left home in September. He could 
not even write a letter without bringing in stamps! And I 
had a suspicion that that was his object in writing the let¬ 
ter — to get stamps. So he was still at it. I could close 
my eyes and see a room full of boys, and stamps. Stamps 
everywhere: stamps on the table, on the couch, on the 
chairs, and on the floor. Every floor in the house was 
covered with them. And no one dared sweep them up. 



THE PARAGRAPH 


17 


Heavens, no! Why, some of them were worth a thousand Paragraph 
dollars! Why didn’t he sell them, then, if he could get so division 
much as that for them? Well, for cat’s sake, a fellow 
couldn’t sell them till the c’lector came around, could he? 

Where was the collector and when was he coming? Oh, 
he was somewhere and he’d be along some day. Gee, girls 
were a nuisance, always asking questions. Stupids! 

Never could understand anything, anyway. So the nui¬ 
sance found it better not to interfere; and the stamps re¬ 
mained unmolested. Every night the bunch would come 
trooping in, and gather in the den with their stamps and 
stamp albums. “Hey, Green, I’ll trade you a Guatemala 
for that Santo Domingo. You’ve got two of them any¬ 
way.” “Well, I hope to tell you I won’t! What are you 
trying to pull? Guatemalas only market for five dollars, 
and I can get ten for this, any old day, and I don’t mean 
may be.” Sometimes the argument became so heated as 
to necessitate a little interference from the nuisance. 

The battle would subside for a time and then break out 
afresh, rising higher and higher, until the nuisance would 
decide it was time for intervention again. I didn’t send 
any stamps, and neither have I received another letter. 

It was almost nine months ago that the stamp hobby was 
in full swing; so I suspect that it is over now. I shall be 
glad if it is, but I am not letting myself become too elated. 

One cannot with a thirteen-year-old brother. 

Exercise 2 

Decide whether each of the following paragraphs is Paragraph 
unified. If it is unified, you should find in the paragraph, unit y 
or be able to formulate, a topic sentence. (See Rule 20.) 

1. Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no 
other blessedness. He has a work, a life-purpose; he has 
found it, and will follow it! How, as a free-flowing channel, 
dug and torn by noble force through the sour mud-swamp 
of one’s existence, like an ever-deepening river there, it 
runs and flows; — draining-off the sour festering water, 
gradually from the root of the remotest grass-blade; mak¬ 
ing, instead of pestilential swamp, a green fruitful meadow 
with its clear-flowing stream. How blessed for the meadow 
itself, let the stream and its value be great or small! Labor 


18 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Paragraph is Life: from the inmost heart of the Worker rises his god- 
unity given Force, the sacred celestial Life-essence breathed into 

him by Almighty God; from his inmost heart awakens 
him to all nobleness, — to all knowledge, ‘self-knowledge’ 
and much else, so soon as Work fitly begins. Knowledge? 
The knowledge that will hold good in working, cleave thou 
to that; for Nature herself accredits that, says Yea to that. 
Properly thou hast no other knowledge but what thou hast 
got by working: the rest is yet all a hypothesis of knowl¬ 
edge; a thing to be argued of in schools, a thing floating 
in the clouds, in endless logic-vortices, till we try it and fix 
it. ‘Doubt, of whatever kind, can be ended by Action 
alone.’ — Carlyle. 

2. Life is filled with many hard and discouraging days, 
but I am convinced that the most discouraging of days 
are those when my rhetoric assignment book reads, 
“March 3, (Wed.) — Theme 5; 450-600 words on a sub¬ 
ject arising from the essays on education.” Would that 
Montaigne and Milton, who are really the instigators of 
this crime, could but know my resentment! I am one of 
those unfortunate persons who is unable to sit down and 
conscientiously scratch off a six-hundred-word theme in 
the length of time that it takes to write out each of those 
four thousand and six hundred letters that go to make such 
a theme. What I am striving to prove to my reader is that 
I am in a class of students in this university from whose 
brains it is no more possible to wring words than to tap 
syrup from a maple tree unless the words and the maple 
syrup happen to be there. Now, it goes unsaid that the 
only time one can get the maple syrup from the maple 
tree is in the early spring of the year — the right season 
for tapping trees. As with the tree, so with my head. I 
cannot get theme matter from my block of wood if it is 
the wrong season. I have “crabbed” to instructors about 
the limited number of theme subjects until, if they do not 
deem me as being temperamental, they must believe me to 
be another one of those anything-for-an-excuse persons. 
But if they could only know how, when an assigned sub¬ 
ject happens to “hit home,” I fairly itch to get to the old 
pen and paper to sketch off that theme before I lose the 
inspiration. It seems to me that the only way in which I 
can account for my trouble and the trouble of the others 


THE PARAGRAPH 


19 


is that we are temperamental. Until now I have always Paragraph 

held that only geniuses are temperamental. Manifesta- unity 

tions of genius in my young life were Willie Potter, who 

could play “The Rosary’’ on the xylophone when he was 

only in the eighth grade, and little Mary Dalton, who 

studied in Chicago every summer at the Glenn Dillard 

Gunn School of Music before she reached her teens. “Ah, 

they are geniuses!” people remarked, but I thought that 

they were peculiar — peculiar in the sense that they were 

not quite bright in their studies and received their high 

school diplomas for what should have been pay-checks for 

winning silver cups for the school in state high school 

musical contests. How our senior class snickered when our 

geniuses received their diplomas on graduation day, but 

we have to take back a little, for I read in the home town 

Gazette , which was around my clothes in last week’s 

laundry kit, that little Mary Dalton is being presented to 

Chicago musicians by Glenn Dillard Gunn himself next 

Tuesday night. So much for temperamental geniuses who 

can get through life playing pianos without having to 

write six-hundred-word themes that have to be in at nine 

o’clock on a Wednesday morning. 

3. The college, if it is to be a real exponent of a liberal 
education, must resist vigorously the modern tendency 
toward extra-curricular activities of one kind and another. 

Athletics, literary societies, college journalism, home¬ 
comings, all of them have their place, all are valuable 
within limits; but they must never be permitted to be 
substituted for what President Wilson called the “main 
show” of education. I am fully convinced that university 
athletics as now organized is detrimental to education and 
scholarship. Our own stadium, costing about $2,000,000, 
seating about 70,000 persons, is for several months of 
the year the center of university interest and activity. 

Vast throngs are attracted to our little community, but 
no one in the crowds has any thought for the real function 
of the university. The wildest demonstrations of loyalty 
for the team and for the institution are aroused, but not a 
spark of intellectual curiosity. A college must be built on 
something more substantial than college songs, class cheers, 
and sentimental loyalty. 


20 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Unity, 

coherence, 

and 

emphasis 


Exercise 3 

(a) State the topic sentences for the following para¬ 
graphs. (6) Show how the material in the paragraphs is 
made coherent and emphatic, (c) Point out the various 
methods by which the paragraphs are developed. 

1. The American people, more than any other people, 
is composed of individuals who have lost association with 
their old landmarks. They have crossed an ocean, they 
have spread themselves across a new continent. The 
American who still lives in his grandfather’s house feels 
almost as if he were living in a museum. There are few 
Americans who have not moved at least once since their 
childhood, and even if they have stayed where they were 
born, the old landmarks themselves have been carted 
away to make room for progress. That, perhaps, is one 
reason why we have so much more Americanism than love 
of America. It takes time to learn to love the new gas 
station which stands where the wild honeysuckle grew. 
Moreover, the great majority of Americans have risen in 
the world. They have moved out of their class, lifting the 
old folks along with them perhaps, so that together they 
may sit by the steam pipes, and listen to the crooning of 
the radio. But more and more of them have moved not 
only out of their class, but out of their culture; and then 
they leave the old folks behind, and the continuity of life 
is broken. For faith grows well only as it is passed on from 
parents to their children amidst surroundings that bear 
witness, because nothing changes radically, to a deep per¬ 
manence in the order of the world. It is true, no doubt, 
that in this great physical and psychic migration some of 
the old household gods are carefully packed up and put 
with the rest of the luggage, and then unpacked and set 
up on new altars in new places. But what can be taken 
along is at best no more than the tree which is above the 
ground. The roots remain in the soil where first they 
grew. - — Walter Lippmann. 

2. Punishment is a blessed thing. I pity the young who 
have grown up without it. I pity the old, the masters and 
the mistresses of households, whom nobody dares to con¬ 
tradict, who are never, never put into the corner or whipped 
as they deserve. I pity the kings and emperors who have 





THE COMPOSITION AS A WHOLE 


21 


gone murderous-mad because no one stood up to them or 
made them behave themselves. But punishment is of no 
positive value; only negative. For any positive help 
towards living a nobler life, apart from the influence of 
friendship and of education, I can only fall back on that 
real and widespread possession of the human race of which 
we have already spoken: that instinct which shows itself 
in the existence of the Internal Censor. It is an instinct 
both moral and aesthetic, which rejects things both be¬ 
cause they are bad and because they are ugly, and pursues 
things both because they are good and because they are 
beautiful. Philosophers insist on drawing a distinction 
between these two, but I confess that I never can feel it 
very real. As far as I can analyze my own feelings, I 
should say that the motive which keeps me from a bad 
action is a feeling that as I contemplate it I do not like the 
look of it or the smell of it. I feel it to be ugly or foul or 
not decent — not the sort of thing with which I want to 
be associated. And, similarly, the thing that nerves me 
towards a good but difficult action is a feeling that it seems 
beautiful or fine, the sort of thing that I love as I look at 
it and would like to have for my own. Though not infalli¬ 
ble, this moral or aesthetic instinct is a true fact. I believe 
it to be generally very strong in young people, at any rate 
in those who have real life in them, and, though often mis¬ 
directed while they make their usual experiments, it has 
a way of correcting its own errors and ultimately finding 
its right course. It, and perhaps it alone, answers the most 
troublesome of all questions which the cynic can put to the 
moralist: “Granted that it is useful to society that I 
should be honest, why should I mind about society if I 
can find my own profit in stealing? ” — Gilbert Murray, 
Harper’s Magazine y January 1930. 


THE COMPOSITION AS A WHOLE 

Exercise 1 

Discuss the suitability of the following subjects for 500- Unity 
word expositions. If you find the subjects too large, sug¬ 
gest subdivisions that might be treated in 500-word themes. 


22 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


1. Earning one’s way through college 

2. Modern poetry 

3. How a large business enterprise is managed 

4. Road building 

5. Religion 

6. Training for the track team 

7. The French Revolution 

8. Early American magazines 

9. Culture 

10. Managing a summer camp 
Exercise 2 

Unity and What are the faults of the following theme? Make 
coherence suggestions for revision. 

Standards 

In the very beginning of time it was needless for man to 
follow any fixed standards. He needed none. He acted 
wholly on impulse and gave no thought to advancement. 
As time went on, he learned the advantages of protection 
by living in groups. Through these groups, standards of 
living, dressing, laws, weights, measure, and many others 
developed. 

Today there are standards which we use without think¬ 
ing about them. What does the ordinary ignorant miner 
know about standards of living? Perhaps he has never 
heard of the term. He knows what the standards of time, 
weight, and measure are, but he does not know, how they 
originated. Our progress would have been impossible 
without the use of standards. 

Economics defines standard of living as the value of 
satisfaction over desires. What does the average laborer 
in a sweat-shop know about the value of satisfaction over 
desires? He probably thinks it is an advertisement of some 
cigarette telling him about the satisfaction he will get out 
of the cigarette he desires. His standard of living means 
more to him than this. It means the happiness and wel¬ 
fare of his family. The Chinese laborer can live on five 
cents a day. The American laborer goes on a strike if he 
is only earning one dollar and half an hour. With the use 
of machinery his manual labor is reduced to a minimum. 
He doesn’t have to saw with a hand-saw, or file with a 


THE COMPOSITION AS A WHOLE 


23 


hand-file. Machines do this for him and yet we still have 
strikes among discontented labor. This is not intended to 
be an essay on the labor question. I am merely trying to 
bring out the fact that the average person uses the standard 
of living every day and does not realize what it is or what 
it means to him. 

There are many other standards which could be given, 
but the ideas are the same. Our standards are not the best. 
The French metric system of measuring by tens has a de¬ 
cided advantage over our system of twelves. A year of 
thirteen months of twenty-eight days would perhaps be 
better than the one we use now. But no matter how the 
standards change, they will always be in demand, and if 
they could be sold on the market as stock is, there would 
be few market crashes. 

Exercise 3 

Re\vrite the following theme, making it unified and co¬ 
herent, and indicating the necessary paragraph divisions. 

Hazards of Flying 

Aviation is in its beginnings and we really do not know 
how safe flying is. There are only ten thousand planes in 
licensed commercial industry in the United States. Most 
people still distrust flight, but curiosity is slowly overcom¬ 
ing this distrust. The hazards of flying are not so many as 
formerly. Bills have been passed compelling aviators and 
airships to meet certain requirements. The airplane must 
be built of light, but sound and lasting framework. Girders 
of fight wood also help in making the plane safer. The gas 
in the gas cells must be fight, strong, and impermeable. 
The engine must be adequate in power and reliability. 
Airplane behavior is studied so that improvements can be 
made. Some planes have slotted wings which are auto¬ 
matically controlled. Wing slots can prevent a spin by 
flapping open and increasing the lift on the lower wing. 
If a plane has a slot that opens automatically, the plane is 
much safer. There is more to the safety of flying than the 
construction of the plane. The pilot is responsible for 
fifty per cent of the accidents occurring to airplanes. To 
be a safe flyer, the pilot must be quick to think, have good 
judgment, and experience. Most of the accidents caused 


Unity and 
coherence 


24 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Unity and 
coherence 


by the pilot occur when the plane is in a spin. The spin is 
dangerous because it affects the eyes. When a plane goes 
into a spin, the pilot’s eyes begin to oscillate, and therefore 
when he has pushed the stick back, his eyes continue to osci- 
late until they make him believe that he is still in the spin. 
It is even more dangerous, because when in a spin the pilot 
cannot leave the plane in a parachute. The navy is carrying 
on experiments to fix a trap-door in the floor from which the 
pilot might drop. Some pilots try to do silly and dangerous 
stunts, which cause a great many accidents. Lindbergh 
is a good example of a pilot who never does fancy stunts. 
Flying in America is almost completely unregulated, and 
unregulated flying may be dangerous to the public as well 
as to the flyers. The Aeronautic Safety Code would help 
a great deal because it covers every phase of aircraft 
operation. This code has rules on fire prevention, ventila¬ 
tion, location of gasoline tanks, and requires a fire wall 
between the engine and the rest of the ship. In some 
planes code signals for landing places are given by an 
electric flasher. It is the impossibility of steady flight be¬ 
low what is known as the stalling speed that is the greatest 
source of danger to air-travel today. When below this 
line, the plane will probably spin because of careless flying. 
Stalling means falling below the necessary speed to main¬ 
tain flight. When a plane is trying to land on a narrow 
strip of ground, the engine may stall. A tri-motored plane 
is as susceptible to the hazards of high minimum speed as 
the single-engined plane. One can imagine how dangerous 
it is for a six-ton mass, traveling at a rate of fifty miles an 
hour to crash to the ground. The tri-motored Ford plane 
crashed last spring at Newark and the Fokker F-32, the 
largest plane in the country, crashed also. The human 
element was held responsible in both cases. Accidents are 
due to two causes: plane and pilot. According to C. J. V. 
Murphy, engine failure is responsible for 20 per cent of the 
accidents; weather conditions, poor visibility, and dark¬ 
ness contribute 4 per cent; miscellaneous, 14 per cent; 
and human failure 50 per cent. Attempts have been made 
to lengthen the speed range of a plane by slots in the wing, 
and experiments with ornithopter and helicopter. If a 
plane is equipped properly with slots, the plane cannot be 
forced into a stall or spin. Airplanes equipped with these 


THE COMPOSITION AS A WHOLE 25 


are slower, but safer at a low speed. Engineers are trying Unity 
to increase the speed by experiments. Blind flying as in a c °here 
fog is very dangerous. The crash of the tri-motored plane 
(T. A. T.) in Mexico shows that the problem is not solved. 

There are two solutions to the problem: first, to do away 
with fog over air-ports, which has not yet been accom¬ 
plished; second, to develop better instruments and better 
control in flight. The most delicate instruments used in 
weather forecasting do not predict the appearance of fog. 

The best that aviators can do to judge fog conditions oyer 
the route which they travel is to calculate the relative 
possibility of fog according to the nature of the land sur¬ 
face which they cross, its proximity to bodies of water 
which may be large enough to affect the atmosphere, and 
the season’s weather against what information the weather 
bureaus are able to give. It is evident, therefore, that the 
fog handicap prevails as a serious hazard at all air-ports 
and on all flying routes, at some time or other. The sta¬ 
bility of planes and the radio have helped a great deal 
toward solving the problem of fog. A plane can call for 
its position every ten minutes or so by radio beacons. A 
stable plane is one which when disturbed from flight in 
equilibrium will automatically return to equilibrium. Ac¬ 
cording to engineers of the Guggenheim Fund, the theo¬ 
retically safe plane should be able to fly steadily in gusty 
air, with controls untouched, for not less than five minutes. 

In 1927, 40 per cent of all of the fatal accidents to army 
planes were due to spins, and in the last five years, 45 per 
cent of navy airplane accidents have been due to the same 
cause. Pilots are not entrusted with passengers unless 
they have passed medical tests and have had at least two 
hundred hours of flight experience. During 1928, there 
were only eighty-five accidents involving aircraft operat¬ 
ing over regular routes. This was one death for every 
500,000 miles of such flying. The reason for this was the 
superior organization, technic, and the engines. These 
pilots do not take chances with the weather, or the plane 
itself. The usual accidents to airplanes are caused by 
collisions in full flight with other aircraft, collisions in full 
flight with other than aircraft, tail-spins, forced landings, 
landing accidents, take-off accidents, and fires in the air. 


26 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Outlining 


Exercise 4 

Revise the following outlines, giving reasons for your 
changes. 


1. Aviation Has Conquered Fog 
Thesis: The dangerous feat of handling an airplane in 
fog, an ever-threatening hazard in air travel, and a most 
baffling hazard of all modes of travel, has been performed 
successfully; this marks the most important accomplish¬ 
ment attained up to the present time by the Guggenheim 
Safety Fund Association. 

I. The handling of an airplane in fog has been a most 
hazardous accomplishment. 

A. The pilot is unable to keep plane on even keel. 

B. He loses his course of travel and sense of direc¬ 
tion. 

C. His altimeter has been inadequately delicate 
to assure landing without crashing. 

D. Fog signals at air-ports cannot be discerned by 
the pilot in time for him to use them to ad¬ 
vantage. 

1. The drumming of the motor prevents the 
possibility of his hearing fog-horn signals. 

2. Beacon lights cannot be distinguished by 
the human eye, but can be detected by 
the visual radio receiver. 

II. Fog is a handicap which prevails at some time or an¬ 
other, at all air-ports and on all flying routes. 

A. Fog prevails along the coast. 

B. To be encountered in mountainous regions. 

C. To be expected near large bodies of water, such 
as the Great Lakes. 

D. Fog occurs with sudden changes of weather. 

III. Fog in air travel is a handicap which is greater than 
that in any other kind of travel. 

A. The right-hand side of the road is assigned to 
the automobile. 

B. Open signals guide the trains on the railroad. 


THE COMPOSITION AS A WHOLE 27 


C. Fog horns and buoys warn the boat pilots. 

D. The airplane pilot is unable to see or hear any¬ 
thing except his cockpit and engine, when in 
fog. 

1. He is forced to continue traveling on¬ 
ward. Cannot stop. 

2. He has the alternatives of making a 
“chance” landing or flying onward and 
upward to get above the fog if possible. 

IV. Lieut. James H. Doolittle has accomplished the feat 
of “flying blind” successfully, which marks the most 
important “find” of the Guggenheim Safety Fund 
Association. 

A. Lieut. Doolittle flew fifteen milps, taking off 
and landing safely, with a hood over the cock¬ 
pit. 

1. The artificial horizon enabled him to keep 
plane at even keel. 

2. The short-range radio direction-beam 
enabled him to keep in the course. 

3. A highly sensitive altimeter showed, 
within a few feet, his height above the 
ground. 

V. Mr. Daniel Guggenheim announces this demonstra¬ 
tion as eliminating the last great hazard to reliability 
of airplane travel. 

A. Airplane travel is now independent of weather 
conditions. 

2. The Rayon Industry 

Thesis: Is the rayon industry supplanting the silk in¬ 
dustry? What are the characteristics of rayon that qualify 
it to compete with silk? 

I. It has always been a desire among men to reproduce 
by artificial means natural substances that, because 
of their scarcity or beauty are estimated at a high 
value. 

A. A French naturalist, in his effort to produce 
artifical silk, went so far as to produce a 


Outlining 


28 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Outlining 


twisted ply yarn from spider thread, which was 
knit into stockings weighing only two and one- 
fourth ounces. 

B. Later another Frenchman succeeded in his 
chemical experiment on the same subject. 

II. Many improvements have been made since the time 
of Chardonnet’s successful experiment. 

A. One process is called the Cuprammonium and 
Vicose process. 

B. There is also the Acetate process. 

C. I shall not discuss either of these methods, for 
they will probably be tiresome and uninterest¬ 
ing. 

III. Rayon has many characteristic properties, which I 
shall just mention. 

A. There has been some discussion as to whether 
or not rayon is perishable. 

B. Will it stand washing and ironing? 

C. Varieties of rayon differ in their ability to turn 
water. 

D. It is claimed that the rayon made by a certain 
process conducts the beneficial ultra-violet 
rays of the sunlight and excludes the harmful 
rays. 

E. Cellulose acetate rayon is very resistant to 
dyes, and it has been necessary to develop 
special dyes to be used on it. 

IV. The world needs new textile fibers. 

A. With the increase in population and the rapid 
spread of civilization, there has been an ex¬ 
pansion of the world’s textile requirements. 

B. This need will be more noticeable in a few years 
hence, for the European countries are rapidly 
recovering from the prostration caused by the 
war. 

C. Rayon, an inexpensive substitute for silk, can 
fill the demand of many women who desire to 
wear silk but who cannot afford it. 


THE COMPOSITION AS A WHOLE 29 


V. The consumption of rayon is very extensive. 

A. In 1927 the consumption of rayon for the first 
time exceeded that of silk. 

B. There is also much discussion as to whether or 
not rayon will supplant the cotton industry. 

VI. Rayon may be compared with natural silk in many 
ways. 

A. The two may be compared as to color and 
beauty. 

B. There is considerable difference in the strength 
of the two textiles. 

Exercise 5 

The following topics were jotted down to be developed 
into an autobiography. From them make a topical outline 
for your own biography, first formulating a central idea, 
such as “my chief aim in life,” “my ambition,” or “my 
great interest.” With this unifying thesis in mind, make 
the necessary rearrangements and subordinations, and add 
a sufficient number of subtopics to make your meaning 
clear. Indicate how you would apportioh the space in a 
theme of 1500-2000 words. 

I. My ancestors 

II. My parents 

III. My schooling 

IV. My hobbies 

V. Childhood experiences 

VI. My companions 

VII. My reading 

VIII. The travelling I have done 

IX. My ambitions 

X. Teachers who have influenced me 

XI. Tragedies in my life 

XII. Good fortunes that have come to me 

XIII. My home surroundings 

XIV. Life in a small town (or country, or city) 

XV. My character as I see it 

Exercise 6 

Turn the topic outline that you made for the preceding 
exercise into a sentence outline. 


Outlining 


Outlining 


30 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Grammar 


GRAMMAR 

Exercise 

Correct any errors in grammar that you may find in the 
following sentences. Give your reasons for making the 
changes. 

I. Diamonds is trump. 2. Are you sure that it is I who 
is wanted? 3. Half of the city’s fire-fighting engines were 
called out. 4. Most of the corn and wheat have been 
damaged by the drought. 5. Our complete stock of dia¬ 
monds, jewelry, standard-make watches, and silverware 
are going on the auction block. 6. It is the few finishing 
touches that postpone the opening of the new bridge. 
7. Neither of the boys were sick a day while they were 
gone. 8. Each of us try to help the other. 9. Differential 
and integral calculus was difficult for me. 10. After the 
preliminary plans and the necessary legislation was com¬ 
pleted, the actual operations were started. 

II. In so dense a forest, there was no chance of him 
escaping without some injury. 12. As a small boy, my 
ambition was to be a jockey, and when I was eighteen, the 
opportunity presented itself. 13. These people are just a 
background that help in forming us. 14. He was pitcher 
on the side opposite my friend and I. 15. The machine is 
driven by the power from the boat’s engine, and so rapid 
does it work, that three men are required to remove the 
fish from the net. 16. It takes more imagination than any 
intelligent man possesses to believe that prohibition shall 
ever be enforced. 17. Colleges are filled with students 
who are hoping to be educated so that they might do busi¬ 
ness better than the uneducated. 18. I was so much ex¬ 
cited that I did not even ask Ned who he was trying to get 
to help. 19. It was the fate of my cousin and I to have to 
play a cornet duet. 20. I know now that death comes un¬ 
expected under all circumstances. 

21. Economists predict that, according to statistics, the 
earth, two centuries hence, would be overflooded with 
population. 22. There has been many attacks upon pres¬ 
ent day college education. 23. My lamb had grown to a 
great size, and his nimble black legs grew sleek and strong, 
his large brown eyes became almost human in understand- 


GRAMMAR 


31 


ing, and his wool had become bountiful and fine in texture. 
24. We crept up slower and slower, finally reaching the 
house. 25. When I asked to sleep in the “best room,” 
my request had met with surprisingly little objection. 
26. Sleeping cars are built of steel, which make them safe 
in case of a wreck. 27. Sometimes I wonder whether I 
will ever be of as much use as my grandmother was when 
she was young. 28. Age has added its mellowing touch 
to the older buildings — the original fortress, the block 
houses, the sturdy remains of what in that time were the 
acme of perfection in defensive structures. 29. Although 
we are all created equally, some of us still feel a little better 
than others. 30. The old hen with her large brood of little 
chicks were all tryipg to crowd into the tiny playhouse. 

31. Two-thirds of my time is spent on my mathematics. 
32. None of us is going to the concert. 33. He gave the 
most complete explanation of all. 34. She is one of those 
comfortable kind of persons who always makes you feel at 
ease. 35. I am more worried than her about the news. 

36. He cut her off short in the middle of her story. 

37. Would you care to come with us? 38. I would like to 
apply for a position in your high school. 39. The whole 
family were there: her, her mother, and her four sisters. 

40. Drive slow. Dangerous hill ahead. 

41. She would not dare say that to either you or I. 

42. Whom do you think would be able to fill such a posi¬ 
tion? 43. I feel good this morning for the first time since 
I took cold. 44. His father is determined that he goes to 
college. 45. What will we do if the doors are locked? 
46. Who should he choose for his partner but I! 47. They 
were to have gone yesterday. 48. I had enough money 
left to buy some lunch for my friend and I. 49. As the 
car’s headlights blazed into my eyes, I was blinded. 

50. He consulted all people who he considered wiser than 
himself. 

51. For pledging dinner, you will wear a formal, but you 
will not need them again until October or November. 

52. The few ashes resulting from the burning of hard coal 
means less disagreeable work. 53. The storm of questions 
and suspicions and rumors, some confirmed, others uncon¬ 
firmed, have been so violent as to raise in any reasonable 
person’s mind a further question. 54. We left for Pans 


Grammar 


32 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Punctua¬ 

tion 


the next day, arriving there on Sunday. 55. If that was 
true, then I did right. 56. Which is the man who they 
thought him to be? 57. There is to be a dance and a 
bridge party there tonight. 58. They were all there, each 
one of them dressed up in their best. 


PUNCTUATION 

Exercise 1 

Punctuate the following sentences, or correct any errors 
in the punctuation already there. State the reason for the 
use of each mark of punctuation. 

I. [Newspaper headline] No jury trial bill is passed by 
lower house. 2. He was angry at what he called my high 
pressure salesmanship so I told him what he could do about 
it. 3. It is true that a few freshmen who have not yet been 
instructed in the rudiments of college life have broken this 
ruling but once they are enlightened they too refrain from 
smoking on the campus. 4. I cannot agree with the author 
in this statement That government is best which governs 
not at all. 5. Jim ran up the stairs as fast as he could go 
his only hope was to reach his mothers room before his 
sister could overtake him. 6. Well I must be going he 
said after a long pause. 7. If every one thought as he 
thought the world would be two hundred years behind. 
8. For four years we struggled with mathematics languages 
and many other subjects. 9. After two wagons have been 
loaded the machine has been set and the belts have all been 
put on their pulleys then the threshing begins. 10. At 
Commencement time a meeting place for the alumni is 
needed also a place for visitors to gather in a good Union 
Building would be most useful for these purposes. 

II. Those who wish to play golf on Sunday must go to 
the country club golf course which is the only one open on 
Sunday. 12. Having only a small business this merchant 
had no moving van so the members of the play cast had to 
hire a truck to haul the furniture. 13. My opinions what 
is the use of my having any opinions my parents only 
laugh at my opinions. 14. By this new process more 


PUNCTUATION 


33 


knives could be produced in the same amount of time. 
Thus increasing the output and the quality of our product. 
15. You believe that college has changed since you went 
to school well so it has but not as you think. 16. By the 
way do you remember Walter Edmonds he sails on June 
the sixth on the He de France. 17. Freshmen who like to 
play usually go home to stay at the end of the first semester. 
18. Even a gentleman however does not always have a 
good disposition but when he is not feeling well or when 
luck seems to be against him he does not allow his feelings 
to control his actions that is he is master of his emotions 
he does not allow his mood to become apparent. 19. I 
want you Mother to realize that I do not consider college 
a place for a good time only. 20. Our course in rhetoric 
included many things besides rhetoric for example we often 
discussed politics or religion or philosophy. 

21. An education used to be a luxury now it is a neces¬ 
sity. 22. The meadows were an early green the trees were 
in half leaf a few birds were back from their southern 
winter and we were 1 planning our summer vacation. 

23. The Dean looked up; a half-smile on his face. 

24. There has been some mistake, Mr. Smith, I did not 
cut class yesterday. 25. I am planning to take the ex¬ 
aminations in the fall, therefore I shall spend most of the 
summer studying. 26. Then I saw the dark side of this 
picture, called Life. 27. I think that it is advisable to 
bring one or two semi formal dresses because you never can 
tell you might need them in September. 28. There was 
no school the next day and it was only eightthirty too early 
to go home consequently we took plenty of time to decide 
what to do. 29. Friendship is I think contrary to popular 
opinion more rare than anything else in the world. 

30. When the temple was first completed many residents 
of Salt Lake City not members of the Mormon Church 
were shown through it but since it’s dedication no visitors 
have been admitted. 

31. I shall be glad to leave still I shall miss my friends. 

32. This ruling would affect two kinds of people those who 
would be able to get a college education in spite of cuts 
and those whose college course would be shortened to one 
semester on account of cuts. 33. I had always liked oh 
more than liked her. 34. His text was 1 Corinthians 16 


Punctua¬ 

tion 


34 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Punctua¬ 

tion 


1 to 9. 35. Thomas Hardys first popular success Far 

from the Madding Crowd appeared anonymously in the 
Cornhill Magazine. 36. Its I come on lets go. 37. Faces 
in the fire will smile at him mock him frown at him call 
and repulse or if there be no faces the smoke will take a 
thousand shapes and lead his thoughts by delightful paths 
to the land of reverie or he may watch the innermost heart 
of the fire burn blue especially if there is frost in the air or 
poker in hand he may coax a coal into increased vivacity 
this is an agreeable diversion suggesting the mediaeval 
idea of the Devil in his domain. — E. V. Lucas. 38. She 
wrote the letter for her mother was ill. 39. A strong west 
wind filled the sails. 40. It shivered from head to foot 
and its teeth chattered and as it stared at me persecutor 
devil ghost whatever it thought me it made with its whin¬ 
ing mouth as if it were snapping at me like a worried dog. 
— Dickens. 

41. Shovel a man of seven had said None on your lip. 
You weren't never at Thrums yourself. Tommy’s reply 
was Ain’t my mother a Thrums woman? Shovel who had 
but one eye and that bloodshot fixed it on him threaten¬ 
ingly. The Thames is in London he said. Cos they 
wouldnt not have it in Thrums replied Tommy. ’Amstead 
’Eaths in London, I tell yer Shovel said. The cemetery 
is in Thrums said Tommy. There aint no queens in 
Thrums anyhow. There is the Auld Licht minister. Well 
then if you jest seed Trafalgar Square If you jest seed the 
Thrums town house. St Pauls aint in Thrums. It would 
like to be. After reflecting Shovel said in desperation Well 
then my father were once at a hanging. Tommy replied 
instantly It were my father what was hanged. — J. M. 
Barrie. 42. They had much in common namely their de¬ 
votion to their children their interest in public affairs and 
their love of art. 43. I had to answer a number of ques¬ 
tions such as what my major and minor subjects were, 
what athletics I had taken part in, what my church affili¬ 
ations were etc. 44. After two years delay our govern¬ 
ment sent a reply. 45. My career was decided upon, I was 
to be a great novelist. 46. He was a violent radical who 
contemplated in theory the complete overthrow of all 
existing institutions political social and religious. 47. Jane 
who lived across the street from me for many years is one 


PUNCTUATION 


35 


of my dearest friends. 48. Old Cato whose De Re Rustica 
is my Cultivator says and the only translation I have seen 
makes sheer nonsense of the passage, When you think of 
getting a farm turn it thus in your mind not to buy greedily 
nor spare your pains to look at it and do not think it enough 
to go around it once. The oftener you go there the more 
it will please you if it is good. I think I shall not buy 
greedily but go round and round it as long as I live and be 
buried in it first that it may please me the more at last. — 
H. D. Thoreau. 49. I told her what else could I say to 
her that she would be well enough to go home very soon. 
50. Do you recall that Hazlitt said that the soul of a 
journey is liberty perfect liberty to think feel do just as one 
pleases. 


Exercise 2 

Punctuate the following passage, stating the reason for 
the use of each mark of punctuation. 

Call me Ishmael some years ago never mind how long 
precisely having little or no money in my purse and noth¬ 
ing particular to interest me on shore I thought I would 
sail about a little and see the watery part of the world it is 
a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the 
circulation whenever I find myself growing grim about the 
mouth whenever it is damp drizzly November in my soul 
whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin 
warehouses and bringing up the rear of every funeral I 
meet and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper 
hand of me that it requires a strong moral principle to pre¬ 
vent me from deliberately stepping into the street and 
methodically knocking peoples hats off then I account it 
high time to get to sea as soon as I can this is my substitute 
for pistol and ball with a philosophical flourish Cato throws 
himself upon his sword I quietly take to the ship there is 
nothing surprising in this if they but knew it almost all men 
in their degree some time or other cherish very nearly the 
same feelings toward the ocean with me. — Herman 
Melville. 


Punctu¬ 

ation 


36 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Doubling 

final 

consonants 


Dropping 
final e 


Final e 
retained 


Change of 
y to i: 
nouns 


Change of 
y to i: 
verbs 


phange of 
ie to y 


SPELLING 

Exercise 1 

Write the infinitive, the present participle, and the past 
participle of each of the following verbs (e.g., stop , stopping , 
stopped): fib, dub , rub, gad, shred, wed, lag, nag, drag, brag , 
rebel, excel, dispel, fulfil, distil, instil, dam, slam, stem, gum , 
span, pen, begin, slap, snap, rap, trap, step, chip, clip, shot, 
hop, war, jar, transfer, inter, abhor, incur, recur, defer, fit, 
chap, mat, pat, emit, knit, acquit, outwit. 

Exercise 2 

Write the following words together with the adjectives 
ending in able derived from them (e.g., love, lovable): dis¬ 
pose, move, mistake, reconcile, prove, compare, console, blame, 
imagine, decline, cure, measure. 

Exercise 3 

Write the following words together with their deriva¬ 
tives ending in able (e.g., notice, noticeable): trace, service, 
marriage, charge, damage. 

Exercise 4 

Write the singular and the plural of the following nouns 
(e.g., lady, ladies): baby, lullaby, hobby, democracy, policy, 
regency, tragedy, remedy, elegy, theology, academy, enemy, 
anatomy, destiny, poppy, diary, laundry, treaty, delay, spray, 
alley, attorney, journey, turkey, decoy, alloy, corduroy, con¬ 
voy. 

Exercise 5 

Write the first and third persons present indicative, and 
the first person past, of the following verbs (e.g., I cry, he 
cries, I cried); fancy, pacify, terrify, qualify, accompany, 
spy, reply, occupy, vary, dry, ferry, worry, pity, envy, levy. 

Exercise 6 

Write the infinitive and the present participle of the 
following verbs (e.g., lie, lying): belie, hie, tie, die, vie. 


SPELLING 


37 


Exercise 7 

Write the singular and the plural of the following nouns 
( e.g., bead, beads): limb, seed, sword, church, match, yacht, 
witch, varnish, bank, cannibal, scream, robin, stump, cedar, 
savior, bus, compass, class, abbess, princess, convict, socialist, 
blow, ax, axis, matrix, six, quiz, waltz. 

Exercise 8 

Write the indicative present, first and third persons 
singular, of the following verbs (e.g., refer, refers): stab, 
need, dig, pinch, stitch, watch, wash, fish, drink, deal, dream, 
lean, grasp, fear, guess, amass, trust, bow, buzz. 

Exercise 9 

Study the following groups of words: 


achieve 

pier 

ceiling 

either 

belief 

pierce 

conceit 

leisure 

believe 

relief 

conceive 

neither 

brief 

relieve 

deceit 

obeisance 

chief 

reprieve 

deceive 

seize 

field 

shield 

perceive 

weird 

fierce 

shriek 

receipt 


grief 

siege 

receive 


grieve 

thief 



mischief 

wield 



niece 

yield 



piece 





Exercise 10 

Study the following words, observing that in all the pre¬ 
fix is not diss, but dis: dis-{-able, dis+advantage, dis+agree, 
dis-fiapprove, dis + engage, dis-{-interested, dis-{-obedient, 
dis-{-orderly, dis-{-organize, dis-{-own. 

Exercise 11 

Study the following words, observing that in all the pre¬ 
fix is not u, but un: un-{-natural, un-{-nerve, un + necessary, 
un-{-noticed, un-{-numbered, un-{-named, un-{-neighborly, 
un-{- navigable. 


Plurals in 
s and es 


Present 
third singu 
lars in s 
and es 


Believe, re¬ 
ceive, etc. 


The prefix 
dis 


The prefix 
un 


38 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


The prefixes 
p?r and pre 


The adjec¬ 
tive suffix 
ful 


The adjec¬ 
tive suffix 
ous 


The suffix ly 


The suffix 
ness 


Exercise 12 


Study the following words, distinguishing between the 
prefixes per and pre. Keep in mind that per means 
through, throughout, by, for; and that pre means before. 


perceptible 

perception 

peremptory 

perforce 

perfunctory 

perhaps 

perspective 

perspiration 


precarious 

precaution 

precept 

precipitate 

precise 

precocious 

prerogative 

prescription 


Exercise 13 

Study the following adjectives, observing that in all the 
suffix is not full, but ful: peaceful, dreadful, handful, grace¬ 
ful, forceful, wakeful, shameful, grateful, faithful, healthful, 
pitiful, dutiful, thankful. 

Exercise 14 

Study the following words, observing that in all the 
ending is not us, but ous: bulbous, viscous, advantageous, 
gorgeous, membranous, extraneous, piteous, courteous, 
dubious, specious, precious, vicious, conscious, fastidious, 
odious, studious, religious, perilous. 

Exercise 15 

Study the following words, observing that in all the 
suffix is not y, but ly: final+ly, verbal+ly, radical+ly, 
logical-\-ly, ethical+ly, comical+ly, ironical+ly, typical+ly, 
physical-\-ly, political+ly, critical-\-ly, local-{-ly, real-\-ly, 
legal+ly. . . 

Study the following words, observing that in all at pre¬ 
cedes ly: accidentally, apologetically, pathetically, terrif¬ 
ically, specifically, emphatically, exceptionally, elementally, 
professionally. 

Exercise 16 

Study the following words, observing that the suffix is 
not ess, but ness: clean+ness, drunken+ness, mean+ness, 


SPELLING 39 

plain-{-ness, stubborn-\-ness, sudden + ness, wanton + ness, 
stern+ness, forlorn-{-ness, lean+ness, keen-{-ness. 


Exercise 17 

Study the following words, observing which ones have 
the suffix able, and which ones the suffix ible: 


abominable 

desirable 

inscrutable 

serviceable 

admirable 

despicable 

inseparable 

jiizable 

advisable 

detestable 

intolerable 

sociable 

allowable 

eatable 

irreparable 

suitable 

applicable 

excusable 

justifiable 

syllable 

avoidable 

explicable 

laughable 

teachable 

believable 

hospitable 

movable 

tolerable 

changeable 

imaginable 

noticeable 

traceable 

charitable 

improbable 

peaceable 

treasonable 

comfortable 

incurable 

perishable 

unbearable 

commendable 

indispensable 

preferable 

unmistakable 

comparable 

inestimable 

presentable 

unspeakable 

conceivable 

inevitable 

profitable 

unutterable 

creditable 

inflammable 

reasonable 

variable 

deplorable 

innumerable 

respectable 

vulnerable 

accessible 

divisible 

indelible 

permissible 

admissible 

eligible 

indestructible plausible 

audible 

flexible 

inexhaustible possible 

compatible 

forcible 

inexpressible 

reducible 

comprehensible horrible 

intelligible 

reprehensible 

contemptible 

imperceptible invincible 

responsible 

convertible 

impossible 

invisible 

sensible 

destructible 

incompatible irresistible 

susceptible 

digestible 

incredible 

legible 

tangible 

discernible 

indefensible 

perceptible 

terrible 


Exercise 18 


Study the following words, observing which ones have 
the suffix ance, and which ones the suffix ence: 


abundance 

accordance 

acquaintance 

allegiance 

allowance 


annoyance 

appearance 

appliance 

arrogance 

assistance 


assurance 

attendance 

compliance 

countenance 

defiance 


disturbance 

elegance 

extravagance 

forbearance 

guidance 


The suffixes 
able and ible 


The suffixes 
ance and 
ence 





40 

ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 

hindrance 

maintenance 

remembrance temperance 

ignorance 

ordinance 

repentance 

tolerance 

importance 

ordnance 

resemblance 

utterance 

inheritance 

reliance 

resistance 

vengeance 

irrelevance 

reluctance 

significance 

vigilance 

absence 

deference 

impatience 

precedence 

adolescence 

dependence 

impudence 

prominence 

audience 

difference 

independence providence 

benevolence 

diffidence 

indulgence 

prudence 

cadence 

diligence 

innocence 

reference 

coherence 

eloquence 

intelligence 

reminiscence 

coincidence 

eminence 

magnificence 

residence 

conference 

evidence 

negligence 

reverence 

confidence 

excellence 

occurrence 

sentence 

convenience 

existence 

patience 

superintendence 

correspondence experience 

persistence 

vehemence 


Exercise 19 

The endings Study the following words, observing which ones have 
ar, er, and en ding ar, which ones the ending er, and which ones 


the ending or: 
beggar 

circular 

liar 

similar 

burglar 

collar 

particular 

vicar 

bursar 

familiar 

peculiar 

vinegar 

calendar 

friar 

pillar 

vulgar 

cedar 

grammar 

polar 


cigar 

guitar 

scholar 


adviser 

conquer 

embroider 

producer 

beholder 

consumer 

launder 

subscriber 

boulder 

cylinder 

lavender 

voucher 

cider 

debater 

invader 

warder 

cinder 

dowager 

officer 


administrator 

conductor 

divisor 

major 

ambassador 

confessor 

elevator 

mayor 

anchor 

conqueror 

endeavor 

monitor 

bachelor 

contributor 

governor 

orator 

benefactor 

corridor 

inventor 


competitor 

disfavor 

legislator 



SPELLING 


41 


pallor 

separator supervisor 

ventilator 

proprietor 

spectator tailor 

warrior 

sailor 

sponsor 



Exercise 20 



Study the following words, observing which words have 
the ending el, and which the ending le: 


barrel 

laurel 

bauble 

nimble 

calomel 

mackerel 

circle 

peddle 

cancel 

marvel 

crumble 

ramble 

chancel 

minstrel 

cuddle 

rumble 

channel 

percel 

dabble 

scramble 

chapel 

pommel 

dangle 

scribble 

charnel 

quarrel 

fiddle 

scuffle 

colonel 

rebel 

foible 

scuttle 

corbel 

satchel 

fumble 

sidle 

cudgel 

scalpel 

garble 

squabble 

damsel 

sentinel 

gobble 

straddle 

doggerel 

shekel 

grumble 

stubble 

funnel 

tinsel 

hobble 

stumble 

gospel 

tunnel 

humble 

thimble 

kennel 

wastrel 

idle 

treadle 

kernel 

weasel 

jumble 

tremble 



kindle 

trouble 



meddle 

tumble 



mumble 

wabble 



needle 

waddle 


Exercise 21 

Write the following sentences, filling the blanks with 

affect or effect: 1. I do not like her -ed manner. 

2. An entrance was-ed by force. 3. The-upon 

her is noticeable. 4. The law will take - in July. 

5. It was an ——ive remedy. 6. The hot weather will 

- the crops. 7. There was no serious after-. 

8. She-ed ignorance of the whole matter. 

Exercise 22 

Write the following sentences, filling the blanks with 

consul, council, counsel: 1. He was - to Japan. 

2. He keeps his own-. 3. There is a meeting of the 


The endings 
el and le 


Affect and 
effect 


Consul , 
council, and 
counsel 












42 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Passed and 
past 


Speak and 
speech 


Breathe and 
breath 


Its and it's 


Your and 
you're 


There, their 
and they're 


city-. 4. He was-for the defense. 5. They met 

in-. 6. I always go to her for-. 7. What would 

you-me to do? 

Exercise 23 

Write the following sentences, filling the blanks with 
passed or past. Passed is the past participle of the verb 
pass; past can be an adjective, noun, adverb, or preposi¬ 
tion. 1. We - your house. 2. She went - me. 

3. He whistled as he-by. 4. He is a man with a-. 

5. He is-master at the art of lying. 6. He is-his 

prime. 7. Many years-before he returned. 8. It is 

long-bedtime. 


Exercise 24 

Write the following sentences, filling the blanks with 

speak or speech. Speak is a verb; speech, a noun. 1. “- 

the-, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you.” 2. His 

-is halting. 3. He will-tonight. 4. Did you hear 

his-on India? 

Write the following sentences, filling the blanks with 
breathe or breath. Breathe is a verb; breath, a noun. 

1. -deeply, and hold your-. 2. I caught a- 

from the sea. 3. Do not -this to any one. 4. She 

said it under her-. 


Exercise 25 

Write the following sentences, filling the blanks with: 
(a) Its (pronoun in the possessive case) or it’s (contraction 
of it is). 1. -raining. 2. The cat has had-supper. 

3. The clock is in-old place again. 4. -now six 

years since the accident. 5. I think that-too late to 

go. 

(6) Your (pronoun in the possessive case) or you 1 re (con¬ 
traction of you are). 1 .- mistaken; it is - fault. 

2. --position is assured. 3. - to go tomorrow. 

4. I hope that-taking-vacation in July. 

(c) There (adverb or interjection), their (pronoun in the 
possessive case), or they're (contraction of they are). 
1. It is-turn. 2. -ready to go. 3. -, that is 

































MECHANICS 43 

over with. 4.-car was stolen. 5. - back from 

-trip. 

(d) Whose (pronoun in the possessive case) or who's 

(contraction of who is). 1 . -- turn is it? 2. There is 

the man-running for mayor. 3. — responsible for 

this? 4. -— book is this? 

Exercise 26 

Write the following sentences, filling the blanks with 
already or all ready. After each sentence state in paren¬ 
theses the construction of the expression supplied. 1. We 

were-there. 2. We were-to go. 3. How many 

are-to give the answer? 4. He had -answered 

the question. 5. They have-gone. 6. He is-for 

the examination. 7. He was-with a retort. 

Exercise 27 

Write the following sentences, filling the blanks with 
altogether or all together. After each sentence state in 
parentheses the construction of the expression supplied. 

1. Our family is -again. 2. I am -pleased with 

the results. 3. You are-too young to go. 4. I have 

gathered my material-. 5. Now,-again, the first 

verse. 


MECHANICS 

Exercise 1 

Show how each of the following words may be correctly 
divided at the end of a line. For example: 

re-mem-ber 

in-com-plete 

A. instrumental, distributive, gratification, dissatisfac¬ 
tion, lexicographer, isosceles, retinue, perspicacious, dis¬ 
interestedness, philologist, maiden, husband, eightieth, 
despondency, incontrovertibly, amphitheater, rheumatism, 
changeable. 

B. abject, acquit, adhere, belie, concur, defer, disagree, 
educate, excuse, forget, unreal, invite, mistrust, interest, 


Whose and 
who's 


Already and 
all ready 


Altogether 
and all 
together 


Syllabica¬ 

tion 


Miscel¬ 

laneous 


Prefixes 



















Suffixes 


Doubled 

consonants 

Digraphs 


Abbrevia¬ 

tions, 

numbers, 

capitals, 

italics 


44 ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 

obtain, suburb, supervise, repeat, postmark, provide, embed, 

C. driven, loaded, inspector, laughable, payment, hurry¬ 
ing, quickly, selfish, stronger, strongest, clearness, memorize, 
helpful, listless, chemist. 

D. possess, cottage, message, cobbler, lesson, mutton, 
garrison, parallel, prattle, slipping. 

E. mother, witchcraft, attachment, clanging, thoroughness, 
seraphim, checkmate, resignment, triumphant, fleshiness, 
autochthonous. 


Exercise 2 

Correct in the following sentences any errors in abbrevi¬ 
ations, numbers, capitals, and italics. State the reasons for 
the changes made. 

I. He made a survey of Athletics in the Universities 

and Colleges in the U.S. 2. When grandmother was a 
girl, things were different. 3. She always adds a P.S. to 
her letters. 4. Did you consult Edwardes dictionary of 
non-classical mythology? 5. Something injured his amour 
propre when he was traveling in the East last Winter. 
6. I spent fifty cents for a pattern, $6.80 for my material, 
and a dollar and ten cents for trimming; so you see that 
my dress will cost only $8.40. 7. It is a 10-ton load. 

8. 1929 brought us good fortune. 9. “You will surely 
decide to go,” he said, “For you will never have such a 
chance as this again.” 10. After each war we resolve 
“That these dead shall not have died in vain.” 

II. Our country entered the war in nineteen hundred 
and seventeen. 12. You have a hard road ahead: There 
will be tedious hours of work under an exacting master, 
perhaps in unpleasant surroundings, and there will be little 
pay and less honor. 13. The use of the word like as a 
conjunction is a very common error. 14. My Chemistry 
and Math, grades were high. 15. The Harvard and Yale 
are good passenger boats going up and down the Pacific 
coast. 16. To some southern democrats, all northerners 
are still black republicans. 17. There was much discussion 
about the eighteenth amendment. 18. The president of 
the United States rose to greet the president of our uni¬ 
versity. 19. The catholic church was very powerful in the 


GLOSSARY 45 

middle ages. 20. Political Science, history, economics, 
and Spanish have been my favorite subjects. 

21. He made his money in the Real Estate business. 
22. He caught a large Muskellunge. 23. Resolutely the 
mormons set their faces Westward toward the Great Salt 
lake; the east meant home, but the west meant freedom 
and high adventure. 24. The Junior class will meet in 
room ten, Lincoln hall. 25. We have subscribed to the 
New Republic, the Nation, and the New York Times. 
26. There were only three books in that cottage: Darwin’s 
Origin of Species, the bible, and Ingersoll’s The Gods and 
Other Lectures. 


GLOSSARY 

General Exercise 

Correct any errors in diction that you may find in the Glossary 
following sentences. The standard should be the diction 
of written discourse. 

I. Do you know the lay of the land? 2. He is laying 
for a chance to get even. 3. You should not disturb a 
setting hen. 4. He don’t like the set of the coat on the 
shoulders. 5. If you organize your work, you can get it 
done all the faster. 6. I can’t seem to forget that movie. 

It sure was a grand one. 7. He is the kind of a fellow who 
always enthuses about everything. 8. I guess I’ll never 
get to go places. 9. The bunch can’t hardly ever get to¬ 
gether any more, due to our all being in business now. • 

10. They aren’t putting the blame on the right party. 

II. I am saving up money enough so that I won’t have 
to work my senior year. 12. If he would have done as the 
doctor said, he might have pulled through. 13. You can 
not make him go without he wants to. 14. I started to 
work when I was eight years old. 15. We could of taken 
in a show on the way home. 16. She is quite a little better. 

17. It don’t seem like it’s ever going to clear up. 18. I 
should liked to have seen her. 19. We shall likely go. 

20. Less accidents have occurred this year than last. 


46 


ALTERNATIVE EXERCISES 


Glossary 


21. I doubt if he is right. 22. You will find her in back 
of the house. 23. That is not along my line. 24. If my 
father had have been there, he would never have con¬ 
sented. 25. You have nowhere near the right amount. 
26. No one was there but her brother and myself. 27. You 
came nearly getting drowned. 28. Sometimes she likes to 
go and then other times she doesn’t. 29. He is the 
strangest individual that I have ever known. 30. She 
spent a whole lot of time on that get-up. 

31. The whole family had mean dispositions and were 
always quarreling with each other. 32. You couldn’t faze 
her. 33. That much is over with. 34. I had hardly got 
the door shut than they were at me with questions. 
35. This cottage was superior in many ways than the one 
we had last year. 36. Take it on the home farm, we have 
never had a complete crop failure. 37. I worked some in 
the laboratory last night. 38. She took vocal from him. 
39. He was very disappointed not to go. 40. She an¬ 
swered me that queer way. 

41. Go a ways with me. 42. With all that your father 
has done for you, you should be willing to help him now. 
43: I see where I shall have trouble. 44. Where did he go 
to? 45. I am real glad to meet you. 46. He was raised on 
the farm. 47. She raised up and told us what she thought. 
48. I’ve put in a good day’s work. 49. He is my best 
prospect. 50. No one else but her would do. 

51. I feel badly about your being left out. 52. I will do 
the balance of the work tomorrow. 53. I expect consider¬ 
able lost in the crash. 54. We have company for supper. 

55. I have no doubt but what he will answer your letter. 

56. My work is much harder this year. 57. He was not 
• overly pleased with the prospect. 58. Your parents always 

want for you to do your best. 59. His family located in 
Iowa. 60. He passed most all of us in the course. 

61. It is perfectly lovely of you to ask me. 62. He 
loaned money to students without interest. 63. I will 
kindly request you to mind your own business. 64. I 
think that he is kind of foolish. 65. Bring your scissors, 
needles, and etc. 66. The course ends with the fifth cen¬ 
tury a.d. 67. After having waited for her for several 
hours, I went home. 68. He is an all-around athlete. 
69. We have supper at about six o’clock. 70. Besides 


GLOSSARY 47 

cooking the dinner, you must wait on the table and wash 
the dishes. 

71. Our parents always tried to treat us children the 
same. 72. He tried to run my affairs. 73. He is in pretty 
good shape now. 74. She seldom or ever gets me the right 
size stockings. 75. I do not propose to do any such thing. 








































































































































































































































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